Saito lends a hand, or pistol
by Malchiel
Summary: Another short story about the time Malchiel agreed to bring some legion mates to do Fragment of Memory 3
1. Chapter 1

**Another fantastic adventure on the Siel server, this was around the time we were having huge lagging problems too, which made everything more difficult :p**

"Mal! Could you help us out in Azoturan Fortress? We really need to kill Icaronix!" Hackfield pleaded as he stepped into the room, catching me off guard for a second. I looked up wearily at the Templar's face before getting to my feet. I love helping out my legion mates, in fact I often enforced they come to me if they needed anything. I didn't want to feel like I was too intimidating to talk to, and ever since the last Brigade General, best friend and partner in crime Gabian handed leadership to me while he traveled I've wanted to be a good leader like him. His leadership skills came so naturally, he could be so powerful and yet everyone loved to talk to him, that's what I wanted to do. Then again I had also just gotten back from my first trip to Katalam, and I still felt a bit of the soul sickness from how many times I was summoned back to the Obelisk. I knew though that I had a responsibility, and it would give me an excuse to go talk to the soul healer like I should have before.

"Of course I'll help out." I laughed, picking up the last piece of my armor that I finished dying. I decided that since my training began in Katalam it was time to change a few things. So now my armor, which was originally white, I had now finished dying black instead. I clicked the plate pieces into place and picked up my old Polearm. Looking at the thing I sighed, because it looked shiny and new and powerful but that's all it was, looks. I had no resources at the moment to get a new weapon, so I'm stuck with that one. I placed the polearm on my back and nodded to my legionary.

"Alright I'm ready, let's do this." I said before walking out the door, glancing back to see him close behind. I gave Hack the order to round up whoever else needed or wanted to come and meet me in Heiron near the gate to the fortress, and I set off.

Sneaking into the place was easy enough, those Lepharist Revolutionaries never did pay much attention, and I stood beside the portal to wait for Hackfield and the others. I sat against the stone structure and stared into the rift beside me, mesmerized by the swirling vortex of Aether that changed colors every few seconds. I sat there, thinking to myself, humming a soft tune. I am not sure how long I waited, it's easy to lose track of time when you have endless amounts of it, being a Daeva and all, but finally I had to go check to see what's up. I hoped down the side of the steps to avoid alerting any of the guards and looked around.

At first I didn't see anything, besides the Lepharists I saw no other Daevas or people about the place. Finally I caught glimpse of a dark head, and from the great sword he was wielding I knew it was Hack. He was followed close behind by 3 other legionaries from the legion. Hackfield, Mabohn, Kaleesiah and her husband whose nickname was Cpt, pronounced 'Capt'. They snuck pass quite a few of the guards before that clumsy Templar tripped on a root and landed with an 'OOMF!' on the ground. Mabohn's eyes widened and as the Lepharists turned to look at them and she quipped 'you idiot!' before battle shouts raised around them and they were surrounded. I tried seeing if maybe they could hold them off, from the classes they had Hackfield as a Templar, Mabohn a chanter, Kaleesiah a song weaver and Cpt is a gunslinger. It became quickly apparent however, that they couldn't hold all of them off.

I shuffled through my bag of different potions and pots and picked out a small container with aether jelly in it and consumed it quickly before moving out from cover and towards my legion mates, Polearm unseathed. I was going to make this quick, I didn't want to waste much of my energy here before we got into the fortress, so I decided to focus on more area of effect attacks. I quickly sprinted into the middle of the battle and shouted back at Hack and the others.

"Get back! I got these guys!" they knew what I meant then, I was going to use a very special attack. I turned to the many Lepharists around me and smirked. "You know your buddy Lehar is such a joke, some babbling idiot if you ask me." Outraged cries erupted around me as they all turned their attention away from my legionaries to stare me in the face. I took that moment of shock to lower myself closer to the ground before using all my strength, turning my polearm and focusing all my aether through my hands and right into my weapon. I reared up and slammed the tip of my weapon into the earth, releasing the Aether into the ground and erupting in a blast of power, ribbons of energy swirling into the sky and leaving cracks where the polearm hit. The ground quaked with the sudden blast of energy, knocking the already injured Lepharists onto the ground, I used that to send a spark of electric Aether around them, electrocuting and stunning most of them. It didn't take long after that to take care of the rest, and when I was finished I hurried over to where everyone was waiting.

**I was very hesitant on going to Azoturan because I remembered Fragment of Memory 3 being my least favorite quest **

**I said yes in the end though, I was bringing some knew legionaries and it was good to make an impression on them.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Every time I write these stories I get stuck...and I mean every time.**

These were some of the good days, days where everything was so simple. It went exactly as planned, we hopped through the portal with haste and arrived at the dark fortress where Icaronix was hiding, and I took lead and fought through many guards. I couldn't risk getting the others killed though, and I eventually had them fly up and over the other side of the wall while I took care of the outside.

When we all finally met up inside the fortress I made sure everyone was well rested before giving instructions.

"okay here's how it goes, these guys we are fighting are elites, so we need everyone to fight together to take them down got it?" not only was I giving them the best instructions to getting through this, but I was teaching them a lesson as well, something that would help them in future situations, it's part of being a leader. "Mabohn and Kaleesiah, you two are going to be the healers for us okay?" at their nod I continued. "Hackfield you'll be upfront with me, I should be taking most of the agro but in case any of them stray I need you to keep them away from the others." he grinned enthusiastically at me and I looked over at Cpt. "Cpt you are our main focus of damage, try to stay out of range from our enemies because they'll try to take out the one doing the most damage, when it isn't me." when they all got situated I turned my back to them. "I'll take lead, because I'm stronger I'll try to take most of the agro, now let's do this." and with that we began our descend.

It didn't take long, our plan was successful and we had no casualties, only now we were looking at the hard part. We had just gotten into the center of the fortress, where from a distance you could spot the traitorous Icaronix. The lower floor was covered in Lepharist Revolutionaries, most grouped in twos, usually healer and fighter or healer and mage. I looked uncertainly at the large number of enemies an back at my team, who were already beginning to tire.

"I don't know if we can do this alone." I told them, I knew we could if we tried hard enough, but I didn't want to risk it. As if on cue a letter carrier shugo appeared in front of me holding an envelope, which it produced to me quickly. I opened the letter carefully to see it was from SaitoGremory, a friend of mine from the legion 'On Wings of Sin'. I skimmed the letter with my eyes.

_To: Malchiel_

_From: SaitoGremory_

_What's up Mal? I heard you brought some of your legion mates out to catch ol' Icaronix, send me a message and tell me how it's going will ya?_

The Shugo handed me a slip of paper and a pen and I quickly got to work writing a note.

_To: SaitoGremory_

_From: Malchiel_

_Good to hear from you Saito! We are actually in a jam right now, not sure if we can get through the rest of these guards let alone Icaronix. I'm sure if we try though we might make it, but if you have the time perhaps you'll help us out?_

I folded the note and handed it to the shugo who disappeared quickly, I sat back against the wall with the others with a sigh, the shugo returned very quickly however, and when I took the note from it I laughed at the response.

_To: Malchiel_

_From: SaitoGremory_

_On my way._

I focused my aether to trace Saito's, looking to form the same bond with his as I did my legion mates before entering the fortress. As my aether searched for permission it was quickly accepted, and suddenly My mind and Saito's were linked in a temporary aether bond. His voice sounded through the bond as soon as it settled.

"_Mal? I'll be there shortly okay?" _the way his aether fluttered with worry made Malchiel giggle in amusement, focusing her aether again she sent him a response.

"_you don't need to rush Saito, none of us are hurt or in danger, we are all just a bit tired from all the fighting." _I made sure to send a wave of reassurance over the bond, letting him know we were all safe. After that I relaxed again, Saito had more experience than I did and was far stronger. He is a gunslinger like Cpt, bright blonde hair that matched how mine did before it was dyed white. Saito was at least a foot taller than me, which he made sure to point out whenever he could.

We waited a bit for Saito to arrive, when he did I handed leadership to him because I had my turn. It was time for someone more experienced to take the lead.

**during this I am level 61 and Saito 60, the reason why I say he is more experienced is because his first toon is a level 65 sorcerer T_T he was also keeping his gunslinger at 60 so he could do dredgion still, **

**I waisted no time with that and I sped to 61 as fast as I could XD which I now regret since I'm slowly progressing from rank 3 when I spent a bunch of AP on MY gunslinger...oops _**


End file.
